Alternative fuel station proposed in Lower Mount Bethel

Great River Energy, LLC -- the environmental arm of Iowa-based trucking company W.W. Transport -- plans to build a compressed-natural gas station in rural Lower Mount Bethel Township.

If approved, a $1.8 million compressed-natural gas station at 5137 Lower Mud Run Road will refuel both trucks from a local flour mill and passenger vehicles owned by the general public.

The move will allow W.W. Transport to convert 30 of its 45 vehicles to natural gas. Natural gas is cheaper than petroleum, and the company expects to save $696,000 annually.

The locally-produced fuel is also cleaner, and W.W. Transport could also cut carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 1,270 tons, according to Tony Bandiero, executive director of the Eastern Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Transportation.

Bandiero's firm helped Great River Energy secure a $736,350 grant. The grant was part of Pennsylvania’s Department of Community & Economic Development’s Alternative and Clean Energy Program.

W.W. Transport Chief Financial Officer Kyle Weuve said his company has yet to obtain all the local approvals to get started. Lower Mount Bethel Township Secretary/Treasurer Lori Stauffer said no one had approached the municipality about the project.

Great River hopes to build the plant to fuel W.W. Transport trucks that haul flour from a ConAgra mill, about a half a mile away. The plan calls for a station with 15 hoses that would dispense natural gas to about 30 trucks a day.

Two other hoses would be available to dispense natural gas to compressed-natural gas vehicles owned by the general public.

Natural gas powers about 150,000 vehicles in the U.S. today, according to the U.S. Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center. The average price for compressed-natural gas is lower than petroleum, and some states offer tax incentives for switching to natural gas.

The proposed station would remain open 24 hours a day.

Weuve said the company started using natural gas in its trucks about a year ago.

"We've been pleased," he said. At the moment, the cost of diesel fuel is dropping, but that could change.

The project was developed by The Eastern Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Transportation and funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.